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County:Miami (62 results)

Letter, Leander Martin to Capt. Jas. MontgomeryDecember 13, 1859Leander Martin, writing from Osawatomie, K. T., encouraged James Montgomery to contest the results of the November 8, 1859, election for representatives to the territorial legislature. Montgomery was defeated by William R. Wagstaff in a race for a seat in the territorial house of representatives. Montgomery's response was written at the bottom of the letter.

Keywords:Brown, John, 1800-1859; Free state cause; Free state supporters; New York; Objects; Phelps and Gurley; SurveyorsAuthors:Brown, Jason Letter, John Brown to Dear Wife [Mary Brown] & Children every oneOctober 13, 1855One week after arriving at his sons' settlement ("Brownville") near Osawatomie, Brown wrote the family back east that although most were sick when he first arrived, they "appear now to be mending." The trip across Missouri was without incident, except for problems with a sick horse and their "heavy load." Brown then wrote briefly of the Adairs, the "most uncomfortable situation" in which he found his children upon his arrival, and other things including prairie fires and finally the political situation in the territory. In fact, at this early date, John Brown "believe[d] Missouri is fast becoming discouraged about making Kansas a Slave State & think the prospect of its becoming Free is brightening every day."

Keywords:Border ruffians; Brown, Frederick; Brown, Jason; Brown, John, 1800-1859; Brown, John, Jr.; Free state militia; Lawrence, Kansas Territory; Osawatomie, Battle of; Weapons (see also Guns)Authors:Brown, John , 1800-1859Letter, Richard Mendenhall to Augustus WattlesJanuary 19, 1857Richard Mendenhall was a missionary at the Shawnee Friends Mission in the 1840s. He returned to Indiana for a time but moved back to Kansas Territory in the fall of 1855. He was in Kansas during the territorial era and wrote Wattles describing an attact on the Friends Mission on August 20, 1856 by proslavery forces. He indicated that they were told to leave or the mission would be burned. However, Mendenhall wrote that David Atchison and other proslavery supporters asked that the Friends be left out of the violence. Mendenhall also described an attempt to form a settlement by men from Georgia about 3 miles from Osawatomie. He wrote that they were friendly at first but they later committed depredations. In response, about 100 free state men ran them off, took $500 in clothing and provisions, and burned a fort they had built. Mendenhall believed that the Battle of Osawatomie was a response to this.